Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Forward 50 2011

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is the owner of a big mouth and a good basketball team. This year, it was his team, the Dallas Mavericks, and not his antics that made headlines. In June, the Mavs triumphed over the Miami Heat in the NBA finals, their first-ever championship title, and Cuban let his players’ on-court performance do the talking. But over the years, Cuban’s bad behavior on the sidelines has resulted in more than $1.7 million in fines from the NBA. Though he matches any fine with a charitable contribution, his shenanigans have made him one of the most notorious NBA owners in history.

Cuban, 53, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Pittsburgh, made his millions as an Internet entrepreneur. He is the grandson of Russian-Jewish immigrants who changed their surname from Chabenisky upon arriving at Ellis Island. His business ventures later in life have been both groundbreaking and lucrative. In 2011, his net worth was assessed at about $2.5 billion.

Despite his billions, Cuban’s thoughts on tax policy are surprisingly progressive. When the Forward asked what he thought of a recent proposal to raise taxes on the super-rich he wrote: “I agree that the wealthiest citizens of the country can afford to pay more and should. I agree that carried interest should be treated as regular income. I personally have no problem paying more taxes.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.